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REV. MR. GREEN'S 



PL.YMOUTH SERMON 



18^8. 



3^ 

A 

DISCOURSE, 



2. 
DELIVERED AT PLYMOUTH, DEC. 26^1828, 









TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY 



LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 



/ 

BY SAMUEL GREEN, 

Pastor of Union Church, Essex Street, Boston. 



PCBLISIIEE BV KE«iUEST. 



BOSTON : 

rUlJLISHED BY PEIKCE A: W 1LLL\MS. 



1829. 



^48 



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^ S "^^ 



DISCOURSE. 



Psalm xliv, 1, 3. 

" We liave heard with our cars, O God, our fathers have told us, what worki 
thou didst in their days, in the times of old. For tiiey got not tlic land in pos- 
session by tiicir own sword, neitlier did tlicir own arm save them ; but thy riglit 
hand, and thine arm, and the hght of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor 
unto them." 

God's ancient Israel found matter for holy song in the 
wonders shown to the patriarchs, in the escape of their 
nation from Kirvj)!, and in their iniraciilous preservation, 
till safely planted in the promised land. " i will open 
my mouth in a parable," says one of their sweetest 
bards, " I will utter dark sayings of old ; which we 
have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 
JNIarvellous things did he in the land of Egypt, in the 
field of Zoan. He made his own people to go forth 
like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a 
flock. He led them on safely, so that they feared not."* 
The two great nations arc not to he found on the 
page of history, between whom so manv |)oints of near 
resemblance can be traced in relation to their origin, 
and the remarkable iiiter|)ositioiis of ProvidcMice in their 
preservation and progress, as between Israel of old and 
New F^ngland. Nor is the na'ne of the |)e()ple known, 
save that of Israel, who are laid under obligations like 

' Pdl. i.xxviii. 



ours to dwell with holy gratitiide on the memory of 
their fore-fathers. Here we make no demand on the 
legends of fiction. The simple record repeated, and im- 
asiiiation can add nothinj>- to the scene of moral sublim- 
ity : the patriarchs of New England stand before us, 
powerful in the strength of heaven, and inflexible in 
their purposes, as though conscious of being appointed to 
shape the destiny of unborn millions. To speak worth- 
ily of such men, and of their founding a nation like 
this, is a service too high for me. Standing on this 
consecrated ground, whether I cast my eye backward 
or forward, I am awed and overwhelmed. O for the 
mind conversant with mighty themes, and the eloquent 
tongue possessed by a Norton, a Hooker, or a Chauncey. 

The character of our ancestors, with some notice of 
the departure from their faith and piety visible among 
their descendants, will occupy the present hour. 

Three centuries of the Christian era had scarcely 
passed away, before the church of Christ, which had been 
planted wholly a right vine, began to lose its spirituality, 
to substitute the form of godliness for the power, and to 
be captivated more by worldly pomp, than by the glories 
of a holy heaven. The god of this world multiplied his 
unmeaning ceremonies, and threw them in as a veil be- 
twixt unthinking mortals and the fountain of light. He 
shut up the Bible.* Every engine of power, rank, titles, 

* Tyndall, styled by Fox " England's Apostle," was cruelly strangled and 
burnt in 1536, by the Englisli Catholics, for no other crime than his liaving 
translated and published the Bible in the English language. His was the first 
vrintcd copy of the Holy Scriptures entire in the English tongue. Most of his 
first edition of the New Testament was bought up at great expense and burnt 
by the Bishop of London at Paul's Cross. — Middlcton's Life of Tyndall. 

Some were cited into the Bishop's courts for teaching their children the 
Lord's prayer in English. — Hintory of the Puritans, Vol. 1, p. G4. 

In the reio-n of Henry V, a law was enacted, " That whatsoever they iccre thai 
should read the Scriptures in the mother tongue, they should forfeit land, cattle. 



wealth, talents, and usaj^r, over all Christendom, was 
dcv()t(>d to his interests. Tlio cry of ojjpressed and iiim- 
dered souls went up to lieaven. Jiut uhilst the dark 
night grew darker, (iod was preparing the materials of 
an army " who should make war upon the heasl and 
overcome him." Wicklille,* Jluss, Luther, Zuin^lius, 
and Calvin lead the van in this glorious striie, and \\ ith 
others, roused and astonished the world. God had 
raised up and endowed these men with grace and parts 
for the e\j)rcss purpose of throw ing- off the shackles of 
papal ignorance and suj)erstition, and leading the church 
from her house of a thousand years bondage. 

But the Reformation was not the business of a day. 
The pow er of liome over our niother countrv was bro- 
ken by Ilemy \"lll in the year 1530; but for the jjcriod 
of one hundred and sixty years following, it was as ne- 
cessary that men of great intellectual and moral energy 
should stand pre])ared to repel the violent onsets of the 
returning foe, and d(>fend the trendiling church, as that a 
Luther should have been raised iij) to begin this tremen- 
dous conllict. Had it not been for such ehamj)ions of 
the truth as Knox, IIooj)er,t Rogers, Latimer, Cranmer, 
Ridley, and hundreds of others, most of ^\ hom sealed 
iheir testimony ^\ ith their blood, and died triumphantly 
at the Slake, the dark cloud of j)a|)al idolatry and oppres- 
sion would have returned, and settled down U|)on our 
mother country even to this day, as it now rests upon 
many portions of Euroj)(\ The heavens and the earth 
were shaken in the conflict, and it seemed liki; the 

l{f», and goods from their heirs Jorcver, and so he condemned for heretics to 
God, enemies to the crotcn, and most arrant traitors to the land." — Etnlijn's 
Complete Coll. of Stale Trials, p. 18, as quoted by .\enl, I fist. Pur., Vol. 1. p. r>ri. 

• Witkliffe was born in Yorkshire, England, 132-J, and has boon called " the 
Morninfif Star of the Reformation." 

t Considered tlio first Puritan. — Boipicand Heunrlt's Hist. Diss., Vol. 1,1). ."»:?. 



battle of the great day of God Almighty — he bowed the 
heavens and came down ; his lightnings enlightened the 
world. Boldness, patience, and strength were granted 
to his servants, equal to the day.* When Latimer and 
Ridley were surrounded with the faggots, the former said 
to the latter, with all the truth of prophecy, " We shall 
this day, brother, light such a candle in England, as shall 
never be put out." 

The circumstances of the early reformers were emi- 
nently adapted to form Christians of a vigorous and dar- 
ing spirit. After a long and most degrading vassalage 
the human mind began on a sudden to taste the sweets 
of liberty and feel its inspiration : God's holy oracles 
were unlocked, and studied as by men famishing for the 
bread of life,t the light of truth burst out in its glory, 
accompanied by the Holy Ghost, and in this struggle 
with the powers of darkness every feeling of the soul was 
roused, and every talent put into urgent requisition. 

* The following statement will give the reader some idea of the murders com- 
mitted by the influence and agents of Rome, in her sanguinary efforts to check 
the progress of truth and light, and extend her iron sceptre over the human 
mind. " Pope Julius, in seven 3'ears,\vas the occasion of the slaughter of 200,000 
Christians. The massacre in France cut off 100,000 in three months. In the 
persecutions of the Albigenses and Waldenses, 1,000,000 lost their lives. From 
the beginning of the Jesuits till 1580, that is, in forty years, 900,000 perished. 
The Duke of Alva, by the hangman, put 30,000 to death. The Inquisition in 
thirty-six years, destroyed 150,000. In the Irish rebellion 300,000 were destroy- 
ed. Besides all these, vast numbers have been destroyed in the subsequent 
persecutions, in France and Piedmont, in the Palatinate and Hungary. What a 
cry of blood is here against the church of Rome ! What a body of evidence to 
show that the spirit of popery is extremely cruel and blood-thirsty !" — Life of 
Claude, prefixed to Ids Defence of the Reformation. Vol. 1, p. 61. Lon.ed. 1815. 

i The attachment of these early reformers to the Holy Scriptures, was re- 
markable. Tliomas Forest, commonly called Vicar of Dollar, who died a martyr 
in Scotland 1538, was in tlie habit of committing to memory three chapters of 
the Bible every day, and repeating them to his servant at night. — McCrics Life 
of Knox, p. 409. 

Theodore Beza, successor to Calvin, could repeat all the Psalms in Hebrew 
and all St. Paul's epistles in Greek, from memory. And Ridley could repeat 
from memory nearly all the epistles in Greek. — Middleion's Evang. Biography. 



As this gcnoration of lioly champions wore called 
home, most of tluMii to a mait|r's crown, there arose in 
the church, as their immediate successors, a class of men 
whom tiiev l>;id educated, of a kindred spirit, possessed 
of equal learnini^, boldness, and zeal, and endowed with 
more of the unction of the Holy Spirit. .Such men as 
Ainsworth,* Baxter, Flavel, and John Owcn,t standard 
bearers in the army of the faithful. t Of this school of 
reformers and martyrs, were the fathers of New Hnj^- 
land. They were the associates and companions in trib- 
ulation of these eminent servants of the most high God. 
This class of men, reproachfully denominated Puritans 
by the more licentious, when the iirst reformers fell 
amidst contempt and blood, boldly entered the Ther- 
mopyhe of the church, and in the strength of Omnipo- 
tence maintained the cause of truth and vital godliness 
against the most violent attacks of persecution, till the 
dethronement of Charles I, and the establishment of 
the Commonwealth under Cromwell in 1649.^ But, 

* Ainsworth had made his arrangements for emigrating to New England, but 
was prevented by death. Ncal denominates him tiie Rabbi of his age. — JVeal's 
History of the Puritans. Vol. 1, p. 51G. 

t Owen was once resolved on settling in New England, but was stopped by 
an express order from the court of Charles I. lb. Vol. 5, p. 10'2. 

i The violent convulsions, which were created by the contest in the seven- 
teenth century, between truth and error, the friends of Jesus and llic abettors of 
a corrupt and oppressive ecclesiastical policy, rendered England during that 
century remarkable for men exhibiting originality and power of thought. In 
addition to the above, I might mention such men as Chillingworth, Lord fiacon, 
Lord Chief Justice Hale, Milton, Robert Boyle, (of whom it is said he always read 
the Scriptures upon his knees,) Locke, and Sir Isaac Newton. 

§ In a political point of view, this contest, which issued in the death of 
Charles J, has not been sulficiently understood and estimated. Says an eloquent 
writer, " that great battle was fought for no single generation, for no single 
land. The destinies of the human race were staked on the aame cast with the 
freedom of the English people. Then were first proclaimed those mighty prin- 
ciples, whioh have since worked their way into the depths of the American 
forests, which have aroused Greece from the slavery and degradation of 
two thousand years, and which, from one end of EiirojJO to the other, have 
kindled an uii<iuenchable tiro in the hearts of the oppressed, and loosed tho 



8 

like the children of Israel, they greatly multiplied under 
their cruel oppressions. The armies of Cromwell were 
coni])osed to no inconsiderable extent, of these Puritans ; 
and they were armies, the like of which the world 
has never seen. Throughout whole regiments every 
camp had the decency and the religious exercises of a 
pious family : not an oath, or an indecent word was 
heard : the Sabbath was sacredly observed. The offi- 
cers would pray with their men, and often keep with 
them days of fasting and prayer. The two great parties 
in the kingdom at this time, the high church with the 
Catholics on the side of the king, and the Puritans 
on the side of the Commonwealth, "were known," says 
Richard Baxter, " in that the king's party swore, and the 
Puritans j?rai/ef/." And no sooner had the Puritans the 
ascendency, than the whole moral aspect of London and 
the kingdom w^as changed. From being most glaringly 
profaned, the Sabbath became a day of silence and de- 
votion ; every species of vice was diligently watched 
and suppressed. This new moral aspect may be stig- 
matised, as has often been done, by infidels and high 
church men, as a system of cant and hypocrisy : but do 
men gather grapes of thorns ? There must have been an 
extraordinary degree of piety in the country, and that 
too in many of the master spirits of the day, or such ef- 
fects, on no possible supposition, could have been pro- 
duced. 

From this class of men it is our glory to have descend- 
ed. Great numbers of the most learned, devout, and 

knees of the oppressors with a strange and unwonted fear!" — Edinburgh 
Review, 1825: Article, Milton. 

It bespeaks not a little for the piety and exalted talents of Oliver Crom- 
well, that he should have appointed Sir Matthew Hale to be Lord Chief Justice 
of England, John Owen to be Chancellor of the University of Oxford, John 
Milton to be his Latin Secretary, and Baxter and Howe to be his chaplains. 



enterprising of this class, during the rrigns of James I* 
and Cliarirs I, and after tlie deatli of Croniw (H,+ under 
the renewed o|ij)ressi()ns of ( Innles II J and James II, 
fled from viee and per.si'ciuion to these shores, and liad a 
forminii hand in our ei\ il :uid religious institutions, and 
in onr habits and iharaeters. To their holy and elevat- 
ed motives, tiie ii,reat John Owen bears this testimony : 
"You know how man\ in this nation, in the days not 
long since passed, yea, how many thousands left their 
native soil, and went into a waste and howling wilder- 
ness, in the uttermost parts of the \\ orld, to keep their 
souls undefiled and chaste unto their dear Lord Jesus."^ 
Before leaving their native country they made the fol- 
lowing eloquent appeal to James I and his bishops. 
*' Let them sift well our courses, and let them name 
wherein we have done aught that may justly be said to 
ill become the ministers of Christ. Have we drawn any 
sword ? Have we used any threats ? Hath the state 
been put into any fear or hazard through us ? JManifold 

• During the first year of the reign of James I, 300 ministers were drpriTed 
of their hvin^js, iini)risonecl, or forced to leave the country. And under his suc- 
cessor, Charles I, during twelve years of Archbishop Laud's administration, 4,000 
emigrants became planters in America, and 77 divines ordained in the Church 
of England became pastors of emigrant churches in America, before the year 
1640.— Boguc and Rcnnctl's llisl. Diss. Vol. 1, p.S'.i. 

t In the spring of the year IG'-l"*, eight sail of ships were lying at one time in 
Iho river Thames, bound for New England, filled with Puritan families, among 
whom were Oliver Cromwell, and John Hampden, Esq., who, seeing no end of 
the oppressions of their native country, determined to spend the remainder of 
their days in America; but they were all detained by an order from Charles — 
Hist, of the Puritans. Vol. 2, p. 342. 

t " The great Mr. Locke styles the 2,000 ministers ejected on the accession of 
Charles II, learned, pious, orthodo.x divines ; and we have no hesitation in saj- 
ing, that of them the world was not worthy, nor have their equals been seen in 
any age or nation." — History of Dissenters. Vol. 1, p. IW. 

Sixty thousand persons are said to have suffered for dis:jcnt, and seven thou- 
sand perished in prison during the reigns of Charles II and James II, a period 
only of twenty -nine years. — lb. p. lOti. 

§ Magnaha, Vol. 1. p. 227. 



10 

disgraces have been cast upon us, and we have endured 
them ; the liberty of our ministry hath been taken from 
us, and, (though with bleeding hearts,) we have sustained 
it. — We have been cast out of our houses, and deprived 
of our ordinary maintenance, and yet have we blown no 
trumpet of sedition. These things have gone very near 
us, yet did we never entertain the thought of violence."* 
Such a scrutiny could these great and holy men chal- 
lenge even from their eagle-eyed adversaries. 

The controversy which drove our forefathers from 
their native land did not relate in form, though it did 
virtually, to the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. 
These were indeed substantially embraced in the articles 
of that church by which they were most bitterly ])erse- 
cuted, but they were there only as a dead letter. Of 
little consequence did an orthodox creed appear, if that 
creed must be incumbered by a multiplicity of human 
forms and popish superstitions. They deemed an Or- 
thodox confession, embarrassed by so many carnal ordi- 
dances, but a stratagem of Satan, to lull the conscience 
whilst it chilled and destroyed the soul. They wished 
not only to have the Sun of Righteousness in their sys- 
tem, but to have the clouds and mists so removed that 
his healing and quickening beams might shine forth. 
Hooper, Grindall, Cartwright, Usher, and many others, 
at a very early period of the reformation, foresaw what 
would be the result, if so many vestiges of popery were 
suffered to remain in the English church.f The more 

* History of the Puritans. Vol. 2, p. 92. 

t " January 31, 15G3, the convocation of the English clergy met, and finished 
the XXXIX Articles. Of the lower house, forty-three present were for throwing 
out tiie ceremonies, but thirty-five were for keeping them ; and these with tlie 
help of pro.xies, carried their measures by one vote. 'I'he Bishops immediately 
began to urcre the clergy to subscribe to the liturgy and ceremonies, as well as 
to the articles. Coverdnle, Fox, Humphrey, and others, refused to subscribe ; 
and this was the cpocl) of NoNCOiVFORMiTy." — Holmes' Jhii. Jin. Vol. 1. p. 483. 



11 

splritiinl ]);irt of the miiiistors and laymon l)o^;ui at first to 
coiitciul aiiainst tlic priests' habits w hich iiad hccii a(h)j)t- 
vd from the chinch of lionu'. This may socni to lis hut 
an indifferent circunibtance ; l)ut its association with the 
coriii|)tions of popery '^iwc it no inconsiderabh^ inHnencc 
at that ihiy. I Hit it was not a striii:^!*' on tlie part of 
the more sj)iritiial niemhers to diseiu tiiidxM- tin; ehurcli 
of a few unscriptnra! and injurious ceremonies merely ; 
they were recpiired to receive to titeir commimion those 
wlio ^ave no evidence of Ix^ing born of the Spirit. Nor 
were th(w j)erinitte(l to exercise \hc. discipline of tlie 
Gospel u\)on disorderly members. And the shameful 
profanation of tin; holy Sabbath they were com|)elI(>d, 
by the canons of the church, to encouiajie from their 
pulpits. These corruj)tions allowed, the Puritans saw, 
would make the truth of God, however clearly expressed 
in articles, of none effect.* Strong; in faith and ardent 
in love to Jesus, they coidd not tem|)ori/e ; and ^\ hilst 
the worldly and the ambitious scrambled lor the offices 

• These remnants of a popish and worldly policy in the church were most 
lamentable in their results upon the Gospel ministry. Most of tiic able and 
devoted servants of God, men possessed of a conscience, were driven from the 
service of the church, and the people perished by thousands through a famine 
of hearing the word. For a considerable period, duriii<r the latter part of tiio 
si.xteenth century, there was not one cleriryman in the populous town of 
Northampton, though the people plead for the bread of life. In the county of 
Cornwall there were one hundred and forty clergymen, not one of whom was 
capable of preaciiing a sermon, and most of them wore pluralists and non-resi- 
dents. The citizens of London, in a petition to Parliament, use the following 
language : ' There are in this city a great number of churches, but the one 
half of them at least arc utterly imfurnished of preaching ministers ; — in the 
other half, partly by means of non-residenls, which are very many, and partly 
from want of propir qualifications, there is scatcely the tenth man tiiat makes 
conscience to wait upon his charge.' The i)co])le of Cornwall, in their |>elition, 
say, 'They have one hundred and si.xty churches, the greatest part of which 
are supplied by men who arc ffuilty of the grossest sins." ' Most <>f tlie in- 
cumbents who retained their places under such a corrupt ecclesiaslical govern- 
ment, were disguised papists, fitter to sport with the timbrel and i>ipe, than to 
take into their hands the book of the Lord." — llintonj nf the I'ltriluns. Vol. 1. 
pp. 30&— 370. 



n 

and emoluments of a national church, and deprecated a 
reform, or any nearer approach to the unobstructed blaze 
of truth, the Puritans brought every worldly advantage 
and laid it as a sacrifice on the altar of conscience, and, 
in face of reproach, of rage, and of death, resolved they 
would have a ministry and a church built on the simple 
principles of God's holy word. 

They were the firm advocates of civil liberty, a char- 
acteristic of men eminent for piety ; but civil liberty 
was not the all absorbing consideration. Religion, the 
pure religion of Jesus Christ, with them was the first 
and last object of pursuit. They could die in slavery, 
or perish in poverty ; they could wear out their lives in 
banishment, or expire amidst savage tortures; but having 
known by blessed experience ihe power of holy truth, 
they could not relinquish, either for themselves or their 
children, its uninterrupted enjoyment. 

After repeated seasons of fasting and prayer for the 
direction of him, whose they were and whom they serv- 
ied, a company of these Puritans, among whom were the 
first of the New England pilgrims, in 1610, bade adieu 
to their native land and settled in Leyden.* Here, 
though no king or bishop interfered with their religious 
privileges, the examples of surrounding impiety threat- 
ened to blast their hopes of an enlightened and godly 
posterity. High and glorious was the enterprise for 
which providence was in a mysterious way preparing 
theni. Holland was not fitted to be the scene of its 
mighty developement. Their eye in the darkest seasons 
was immovably fixed on Him, who is light, and in whom 
there is no darkness at all. In faith and prayer were 
the foundations of New England laid. The plan from 

* Morton's New England Memorial, p. 18, 5tli edition. 



13 

its first siin;2;osti<>ii w;is sprciid out before tliat Clod who 
hath piomiscd to direct the ste|)s ol' those who in all 
tlieir ways ackiiowk'diie him. And his |)rt)niise liath lie 
most remarkably fullilied. Arrangements lor their de- 
parture were eom|)l('ted, and the j)arents with their 
children, aeeomi)anie(l by their venerable pastor, Jiobin- 
son, were collected on the shore, w ith a wide ocean and 
an unknown wilderness before them. Lovely, vener- 
able band ! destined, most of }ou, soon to offer up your 
lives to pinehasc privilei^es for your posterity ! They tell 
upon their knees, and in lervent })rayer commended 
themselves to him, who of old led Joseph like a flock.* 
Borne in the Almijihty arms across the Atlantic, their 
first concern, on setting their feet U|)on yonder rock, 
was to glorify the God of heaven, and to make all liieir 
arrangements, domestic, civil, and religious, so as to 
please and honor him. They were resolved that there 
should be one nation in the world, planted in the fear 
and for the glory of the world's great jNIaker and Re- 
deemer. 

This resolution was evinced in their concern for the 
pious education of their children. In order that this 
nation might be full of the glory of God, they wisely 
determined to fill it with the knowledge of God. They 
did not aim at giving their children the polish of a plea- 
sure loving world. Far more enlarged and elevated 
were their views. The}- wished so to educate them, 
that they might be fitted for usefulness in the chureii on 

* On tlie first of July, 1020, they bid farewell to Leyclcn, and were accom- 
panied by their Christian friends to Dolll-IIaven where the ship lay ready to 
receive them. Their friends continued with them through the ni^ht. which 
was spent in conversation and prayer. — JVf»r Enshind Memorial, \tp. 'JU, 23, and 
A'eal's History of .Vrtc Knirland. Vol. 1. p. 7!>. 

No sooner had they landed at Plyinoutli, than a terrible mortality raced 
among them, occasioned by the fatigues of the voyage and the want of neces- 
saries, which, in the course of two or three months, carried off more than half 
their number. — \eal's History of ,Knr England. Vol. 1. p. 87. 



14 

earth, and for a companionship with angels in heaven. 
Probably there never was so thorough a system of family 
instruction as that adopted among the Puritans in Eng- 
land and Scotland,* commencing soon after the reforma- 
tion, and attaining its highest perfection at the time our 
fathers left tlieir native shore to plant this colony. Pa- 
rents in those times of persecution realised the precious- 
ness of the Bible, and felt that a thorough knowledge 
of its truths was their children's best safeguard against 
the most dangerous errors and vices ; and as thousands 
of the most learned and godly ministers were shut out 
of their pulpits, and prohibited all public instruction, 
they and their people labored more abundantly to pro- 
mote family instruction. Each family was a nursery for 
the church and for heaven. 

Within sixteen years after our fathers landed on this 
shore, they founded a College, which they solemnly ded- 
icated " to Christ and the Church." ' It was establish- 
•ed at Cambridge because the godly Mr. Thomas Shep- 
ard was minister there, whose energy of preaching, 
and vigilance in detecting, and zeal in opposing the er- 
rors of the day were so distinguished. 'f And were they 

* The following testimony is a striking comment on the effects of this sys- 
■"tem as exhibited in Scotland. Rev. Samuel Benion, successor to the cele- 
brated James Owen in the Academy at Shrewsbury, having visited Scotland in 
1703, says, " All the while he was in Glasgow, (about a year at the University,) 
■though he lay in a public inn, he never saw any drunk, nor heard one swear. 
And in all the inns on the road in Scotland, where he lay, though some of 
them were mean, they had family worship daily performed morning and even- 
ing." — History of Dissenters. Vol. 2. p. 28. 
t Allen's Biog. Dictionary. Art. Shepard. 

Mr. Prince, in his Christian History, says " that one Mr. Pattin, an ancient 
man of Cambridge, eminent for piety, plain-heartedness, and simplicity, used 
frequently to remind people of Mr. Shepaid's and Mr. Mitchell's powerful and 
awakening ministry, saying it was common to see some one or other crying or 
manifesting- signs of great distress or concern of soul, either in time of sermon 
or at the end of the meeting : that they rarely preached a sermon without some 
visible effects on some one or other. And when the people returned from meet- 



15 

unconcerned about tlie piety and religious sentiments of 
the oHicers of tliis College ? Just the reverse. Our 
fathers plarnied not for the narrow scope of time, but for 
eternity. Charles Chauneey, the second President, was 
eminent in England for his learning and godliness, and 
in that country preached the Ciospel with great success in 
the conversion of souls. While President of the College 
he usually spent three hours of the day in communion 
^vitIl God, besides frequent days of fasting and jnayer. 
And used to say to the students, " atonement hy the 
blood of Christ lost, and the Gospel is lost ;" and like- 
wise to " solemnly caution them against those doctrines 
■which exalt man, and debase Christ.''^* Says Increase 
Mather, who was ap))ointed to the presidency in 1685, 
" The chief object, for ^^ hich our fathers in the strength 
of the Lord did erect a College in New England, was 
that scholars might there be educated for the service of 
Christ and his churches, in the work of the ministry, and 
that they might be seasoned in their tender years with 
such principles as brought their blessed progenitors into 
this wilderness." " There is no one thing of greater con- 
cernment to these churches, in })resent and after times, 
than the prosperity of that College. The churches are 
not like to continue pure golden candlesticks, if the Col- 
lege, which should supply them prove apostate. If the 
fountain be corrupted, how should the streams be pure, 
which should make glad the city of God. How should 
plants of renown spring up there, if the College itself 
become a degenerate plant ? You who are tutors there, 

ing,it was a question, which those who had been detained at home were wont to 
ask thcni, ' wlietlicr any body appeared to be wrought upon to-day, or whether 
there were any visible efTects of the word ?' — or expressions of tiie hke im- 
port." — Vol. ], p. 217. 

Mr. Shepard was preceded by the renowned Mr. Hooker, who afterward re- 
moved to Hartford. 

* Magnalia. Vol. 1, p. 426. 



16 

havfe a great advantage put into your hands to prevent 
it, and I pray God to give you wisdom to know it."* 
Such was the holy solicitude felt by our illustrious fore- 
fathers for the pious education of their youth, and their 
high and sacred object in establishing and endowing 
their College. 

Whence sprang our system of free schools ? Wholly 
from the enlightened piety of our pilgrim fathers. At a 
very early period ihey enacted a law obliging all heads 
of families to teach their children and apprentices so 
much learning as should enable them to read well the 
English language. t And soon upon this obliged every 
town of a hundred families to establish a grammar school. 
This, for that age especially, was a noble act, and prov- 
ed that our fathers had as much outstripped their contem- 
poraries, as the stately oak towers above the shrubs that 
darken the earth beneath it. Such a system firmly es- 
tablished among a people, and their oppressors may drop 
their rod in despair. By this single act our fathers threw 
around this infant colony a defence more invincible than 
could have been created by the whole army and navy of 
Great Britain. 

With a sanctity inviolate, did they invest the holy Sab- 
bath. A religious observation of this holy day, says Neal, 
was the distinguishing mark of a Puritan. J Sooner 

* "You know," says this same holy man, addressing the students, " I have 
often exhorted i ou above all things to studij Christ, and to be mindful of the one 
thing necessary ." — Mugnalia. Vol. 2, p. C3. 

t " All parents shall teach their children to read, and all masters shall cate" 
chise their families once a week. The Selectmen may examine children and 
apprentices, and admonish parents and masters, if they find them ignorant, and 
with the consent of two magistrates, or the next county court, put them into 
better hands." — Jin abridgement of the Laics and Ordinances of JY. £. to 1700', 
JVeaVs Hist, of j\. E. Vol. 2, p. G73. 

I Ncal's Hist, of the Puritans. Vol. 1, p. 453. 

" It was a distinguishing mark of a Puritan in these times, to see him going 
to church twice a day, with his Bible under his arm : and while others were at 



17 

Would those holy men go to the prison or to the stake, than 
countenance a profanation of its sacred liours. And not 
a few of the ministers were actually driven from their 
pulpits, and some imprisoned for no other crime, than be- 
cause they would not read king Charles' book of Sunday 
sports from the pulpit, and suffer their })arishioners, with- 
out rebuke, to profane sacred hours with carnal mirth.* 
We can readily imagine with what reverence for the 
Lord's day, such men commenced the settlement of 
New England: and how inviolably it was observed, 
how silent the streets, and how universal the attendance 
on God's public ordinances, during the whole period that 
these men lived and shed their holy influence over this 
land, is matter of record. 

They inculcated the spirit of missionary enterprise, 
and set an illustrious example of that apostolic service. 
That they might dilTuse the light of the Gospel among 
the natives in North America, was one of the motives 
which induced them to emigrate. " O," said the vener- 
able Robinson, on hearing that some Indians had been 
cut otr for having engaged in a murderous conspiracy, 
" O that you had converted some before you had killed 
any !" And the labors of Eliot,t May hew. Bourne, 
Cotton, Treat, Sergeant, Edwards, and Brainerd to this 
end, must be recorded among the first attempts of the 
church, deserving the name, to convert the heathen na- 

plays and interludes, at revels, or walking in the fields, or at the diversions of 
bowling;, fencing, &c. on the evening of the Sabbath, these with their families, 
were emplo3'cd in reading the Scriptures, singing psalms, catechising their child- 
ren, repeating sermons, and prayer." — XeaTs His of the Puiitans, p. 5G0, 

* Neal's History of the Puritans. Vol. 2, pp. 2G7, %!). 

t Eliot was pastor of the church in Roxbury, and labored among the Indians 
in that vicinity. The Mayhews labored on Martha's Vineyard ; Bournn at 
Marshpec. Cotton was pastor of the church in I'lymouth, had under his care 
about 500 Indians, and Mr. Treat about the same nu'nbcr, in tiie neighborhood 
of Plymouth. Sergeant and Edwards labored among the Stockbridgo tribe, 
and Brainerd at the Forks of the Delaware. 

3 



18 

tions to Christianity, for the space of a thousand years. 
New England in this godlike labor was before Old Eng- 
land. Nor were their efforts small or unsuccessful. 
Eliot, who came over in 1631, translated the whole Bi- 
ble into the Indian tongue, also several Catechisms, Bax- 
ter's Call, and some other devotional books. At one 
time there were, in this state alone, not fewer than 
twenty four organized Christian societies, and these in- 
structed by twenty four Indian preachers, who were in 
some good measure qualified for their work. In some 
villages a large proportion of the families were families 
of prayer.* Our fathers stand forth to the world not only 
as an example of the strictest integrity in all their deal- 
ings with them,t but of true Christian benevolence in 

* This was the state of the Indians A. D. 1G87. Holmes' Am. Annals. 

For the purpose of building- houses of worship, supporting ministers and 
schoolmasters among the American Indians, Cromwell during his government, 
ordered a general collection through the churches of England. — Calamy's Life 
of Baxter, p. 406. 

In 1718 a general collection was made in the churches of Boston for evangel- 
izing the Indians. In the Old Church was collected £160, in the North £90, in 
the South Church £116, and in the New Church £117.— jYeal's Hist, of JV. E. 
Vol. 1, p. 26.5. 

Rev. Experience Mayhew published a small volume entitled " Indian Con- 
verts," in whicJi he gave a particular account of thirty Indian ministers, who 
appeared to adorn th(;ir profession. — jyinstoio's Sketch, pp.60, 65. 

t That our fathers often spoke of those tribes v/hich were at war with 
them, in language which sounds harsh to our ears, is admitted, but then the 
peril they were in, and the immense suiferings they endured from the natives, 
should be taken into the account, in making up our judgement on the subject. 
Some have represented our fathers as wronging them out of their lands, and wa- 
ging against them unprovoked and extirminating wars ; but nothing could be 
further from the uniform testimony of the most authentic Jiistories in relation 
to their intercourse with them, tiian such representations. Tiiat ihey purchas- 
ed of the natives large tracts of land for a trifling sum is true; but as the cir- 
cumstances of the country then were, their lands were worth but a trifling sum. 
Says Cotton Mather, " the English did not claim one foot of ground in the coun- 
try, till they had fairly purchased it of tlio natives ; nay, so cautious were they 
(of doing them injustice, that they made a law that some lands, which lay con- 
venient for the Indians, should never be purchased out of their hands. They 
also enacted, that if any Indians should bo civilized, and desire to live among the 
English, they should have a portion of land alloted to them ; and if a sufficient 



19 

caring for tlioir spiritual welfare. In both respects they 
stand unrivalled on the pai^e of history. What was the 
conduct of the Frencli, and most of tiie other adventur- 
ers to this continent ? How did the conduct of the Span- 
iards in South America, and how do the more recent 
measures, })ursued by Georgia and Alabama in relation 
to them compare with the Christian kindness of our 
puritan ancestors ? 

IMost sacredly did they guard the purity of the church, 
that purity which has ever been essential to her prosperity. 
With holy vigilance they guarded her doors against all, 
who gave not good evidence of being born of the Holy 
Spirit ; and none would they permit to remain within her 
sacred pale, whose lives were a scandal to religion. In- 
stead of our fathers making little or no distinction be- 
tween the church and the world, as some have of late 
most strangely attempted to persuade us, their conscien- 
tious strictness in church admissions and discipline, was 
one of the crimes alleged against them in England, for 
which many of them were deprived of their pulpits and 
imprisoned. It was a maxim with them, fundamental and 
universally adopted, says one of their distinguished lights, 
" that churches are bound in duty, to inquire, not only 
into the knowledge and Orthodoxy, but into the spiritual 
state of those whom they receive into full communion. 
And to omit inquiries as to the spiritual experience of 
those Avho come to the table of the Lord has a tendency 
to fill the sanctuary with those, who never had any ex- 
perimental knowledge of the things of God."* Why 
did they secede from the half reformed churches of the 
mother country? Was not one of their principal and 

number should agree to live together, they should be incorpor<ated, and have a 
grant of lands out of those which the English had already bought of thora."— 
Hist. Diss. Vol. 2, p. 431. 
* Magnaha. Vol. 2, pp. 5G, 58. 



20 

most notorious complaints this, that evidence of regcnera-' 
tion was not made a condition of membership, that the 
sakitarj discipline enjoined in the Gospel was discarded, 
and that thus the church was reduced to a moral level 
with the world? Yet there are those who are making 
strenuous efforts to break down the distinction between 
the church and the world ; and in so doing, they even have 
the presumption to appeal to the usage of our forefath- 
ers : and when driven from this ground by a thousand 
infair.ble witnesses, they gravely tell us they are im- 
proving upon the usage of our fathers. An improvement 
upon their usage to abandon a principle^ which they res- 
cued from the desolations of a thousand years at the 
price of blood ! Is it not rather a relapse into the laxity 
and vvorldliness of popery ? Sons of the Pilgrims, for- 
get not, down to the latest generation, that, in the view 
of your pious ancestors, the glory and strength of Zion 
consists in her purity. Reduce her to the level of the 
world, and you not only obscure her light, and paralyze 
her energies, but destroy her very existence. 

Relying as they did on the influences of the Holy 
Spirit accompanying the truth, to prepare lively stones 
for God's spiritual 2 ion, they knew how to prize, and 
often enjoyed, revivals of religion, those glorious refresh- 
ings from the presence of the Lord which so remark- 
ably crowned apostolic labors. During the first thirty 
years the Gospel had free course, run, and was remark- 
ably glorified. Says a distinguished civilian of that day, 
^' The Lord Jesus Christ was so plainly held out in the 
preaching of the Gospel to poor lost sinners, and the 
absolute necessity of the new birth, and God's Holy 
Spirit in those days was pleased to accompany the word 
with such efficacy upon the hearts of many ; that our 
hearts were taken off from old England and set on 



21 

heaven. Many were converted and joined unto the 
several churches where tliey lived, confessing- thcjir faith 
publicly, and showing before nil the assembly their ex- 
periences of the workings of God's Spirit in their hearts 
to bring them to Christ. Oh the many tears which 
have been shed in Dorchester meeting house at such 
times ! In those days God, even our God, did bless 
New England."* Says another, alluding to the same 
seasons of refreshing, " Let us call to mind the first 
glory in the first planting of New England. Oh that 
converting glory which did then appear : multitudes 
were converted to thee, O Zion. Let me say multi- 
tudes, multitudes were converted to thee, O Hartford, 
to thee, O New Haven, and to thee, O Windsor ; and 
the same may be said of many churches of Christ in 
New England."! Between 1630 and 1640 the spir- 
itual refreshings were numerous and extensive through- 
out New England. t 

In the year 1680, immediately after an express and 
solemn renewal of covenant by the churches with God 
and one another, God poured out his Spirit and greatly 
revived his work in many parts of New England. § One 

* Prince's Christian History. Vol. i. p. 72. 

t A Sermon preached before the General Court of the Colony at Hartford, 
May 14, 1G74, by Rev. James Fitch. Prince's Christian History. Vol. i. p. 76. 

X " There were a great number of children and servants of every age, who 
came over both in the year 1(130, and in the ten following years, that came 
hither only under the common impression of a pious ministry or education, or 
the religious influence of their friends : and who were therefore fit materials 
for the numerous conversions which quickly followed, under the lively, search- 
ing, and awakening preaching of the primitive ministers." Rev. Mr. Prince's 
Election Sermon, delivered at Cambridge, May 27, 1730. Prince's Christian 
History. Vol. i. p. 03. 

These refreshings from the presence of the Lord were not confined to 
New England : from 1G2.3, to l(i30, between forty and fifty parishes in Scotland 
were visited with powerful revivals of religion. Ibid, pp. 8, 14. 

§ The town of Plymouth was blessed with revivals in 1670, and 1680, under 
the ministry of the pious John Norton. 



22 

of the eminent ministers of that day says, very remark- 
able was the blessing of God on those churches who 
cordially entered into these measures for reformation, 
" not only by a great advancement of holiness in the 
people ; but also by a great addition of converts to their 
holy fellowship. And many thousand spectators will 
testify that they never saw the special presence of the 
great God and Saviour more notably discovered than in 
the solemnities of these opportunities."* In the year 
1705, God remembered his covenant and caused the 
song of redeeming mercy to be heard in many towns ; 
so that one of the devoted ministers of that day says, 
" I think sometimes that the time of the pouring out of 
the Spirit upon all flesh, may be at the door."t 

The year 1740, will be ever memorable in the annals 
of the NevN'" England church. The Holy Spirit came 
down in his great power upon the town of Boston, and 
withheld not his heavenly influences, till near fifty towns 
in New England were made to rejoice in the wonders 
of redeeming mercy. And that we might know how 
the holy men of that day viewed this glorious revival, 
ninety of the ministers assembled in Boston in 1743, to 
express their views of this work, and more than one 
hundred and thirty bore their solemn testimony to it 
as a marvellous work of God's Holy Spirit. And in 
conclusion say, " Now we desire to bow the knee in 
thanksgiving to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that our eyes have seen and our ears heard such 
things.!" 

* Prince's Christian History. Vol. 1. p. 107. 

t Rev. Mr. Danforth of Taunton. Prince's Christian History. Vol. 1. p. 111. 

The Rev. Mr. Stoddard of Northampton nsed to say the Lord blessed him 
with five harvests. The first was in the year 1679, and the others in the years 
1683, 1696, 1712, and 1718. Ibid, p. 112. 

t Prince's Christian History. Vol. 1. p. 162. 



23 

In the early days of New England, revivals of reli- 
gion were not a subject of rc|)roach, at least by any uho 
made tlie smallest pretensions to seriousness. To j)ro- 
mote them, those ilhistrious men, from wliom we deem it 
our glory to have descended, fasted, and j)rayed, and 
labored ; and when they enjoyed them, raised their 
hands to heaven in holy gratitude.* Orhcn* countries 
have indeed known something of those sj)irilual har- 
vests, but this land of the Pilgrims has been pre-emi- 
nently distinguished, and made to share richly in the 
blessings of the primitive ages of the church, inasmuch 
as our fathers bore a nearer resemblance in faith and 
zeal to the apostles and the early Christians, than any 
communit}' of men collected on the face of the globe. 

But what were the doctrinal views of these men, 
whose piety shone so illustriously in their devotional 
exercises and in their works ? — a question of no small 
interest. For surely sentiments which on so extensive 
a scale, and in times of abounding iniquity and error, 
could produce a character truly apostolic, maintain in 
the family a system of religious instruction and govern- 

* Frequent meetings for prayer and mutual edification in spiritual things 
are not of recent orioin, eitiier among ministers or laymen. ' Intiie beginning- 
of the country,' says Cotton Mather, ' the ministers had their frequent meet- 
ings ; nor had they ordinarily any difficulty in their churches, which were not 
in these meetings offered unto consideration, for their mutual direction and 
assistance. The prirate Christians also had their private meetings, wherein 
they would seek the face, and sing the praise of God ; and, confer on some 
practical subject for their mutual edification.' Alluding to tlie piety and criflg 
of the lay brethren at this early period, the Rev. Mr. Firman has given this 
account. ' Plain mechanics have I known, well indoctrinated and humble 
Christians, excellent in practical piety : they kept their station, did not aspire 
to be preachers, but for gifts of prayer, few clergymen must come near them. 
I have known some of them when they did keep their fasts, (as they did often,) 
they divided the work of prayer ; the first begun with confession ; the second 
went on with petition for themselves ; the third with petition for church and 
country ; and the fourth with thimlisgiving. And the excellence of their 
matter filled those who joined them with wonder.' Magnalia. Vol. i. p. 220. 



24 

meiit unparalleled, preserve the sanctity of the Sabbath, 
promote genuine revivals of religion, cause Zion to rise 
and shine in her primitive glory, and by the excellency 
of their institutions perpetuate these blessings with 
freshness and vigor down to the sixth generation, — the 
doctrinal views of such miMi must embrace the great 
essentials of the Gospel.* The question can be answer- 
ed at once and with certainty, for those noble ingenuous 
spirits did not conceal any of their sentiments, nor deal 
in words of double meaning. They were not afraid of 
creeds and confessions. They had their views of Scrip- 
ture doctrines, as all must have who are not sceptics, 
and having them, they were neither afraid nor ashamed 
to declare them, and leave them on record. Their views 
are drawn up and distinctly expressed in the Assembly's 
Catechism. The assembly of divines in the royal 
chapel at Westminster, called by the Parliament of the 

* With regard to their morals, the following testimony may be interesting. 
Said the Rev. Mr. Firman in a sermon before the house of Lords and Com- 
mons and the Assembly of Divines, after a residence in this country, ' I have 
lived in a country seven years, and all that time I never heard one profane 
oath, and all that time I never did see a man drunk in that land.' — Prince's 
Christian History. Vol i. p. 104. 

There never was, perhaps, before seen such a body of pious people together 
on the face of the earth. For those who came over first, came hither for the 
sake of religion, and for that pure religion which was entirely hated by the 
loose and profane of the world. Their civil and ecclesiastical leaders were 
exemplary patterns of piety. They encouraged only the virtuous to come with 
and follow them : they were so strict on the vicious both in the church and 
state, that the incorrigible could not endure to live in the country, and went 
back again. Profane swearers and drunkards are not known in the land. And 
it quickly grew so famous for religion abroad, that scarce any other but those 
who liked it, came over for many years. — Sermon of Rev. Mr. Prince, delivered 
at Cambridge, to the General Assembly of the Province of Massachusetts, 
May 27, 1730, being the Anniversary for the election of His Majesty's Council 
for the Province, and published by their order. — Prince's Christian History. 
Vol. i. p. 63. 

An honorable testimony was borne to the elevated standard of morals which 
our fathers maintained while in Holland. Said the magistrates of Leyden, 
' these English have lived among us now these twelve years, and yet we never 
had one suit or action come against them.' — Morton's Memorial. 



25 

first Charles, were mainly of the school of the Puri- 
tans ; and this Catechism was adopted by our fore- 
fathers at an early period, and became universally their 
family catechism.* They called indeed no man master, 
but in their leading views they wore tliorough Calvinists; 
not because tliis system of truths was most ably illus- 
trated and defended by that great and good man, John 
Calvin ;t but because they found it in the Bible, and felt 
and saw its wonderful effects on the hearts and lives of 
men.t Their views were essentially the same as those 
entertained by all the Orthodox churches of our country 
at the present day : The Su^jreme Divinity of our Lord 

* A General Synod of the New England churches, convened at Cambridge 
in the year 1(548, passed unanimously the following vote : " The Synod having^ 
perused and considered with much gladness of heart the Confession of Faith 
published by the reverend Assembly in England, do judge it to be very holy, 
Orthodox, and judicious in matters of faith ; and do freely consent to the sub- 
stance thereof, and recommend it to the churches." — History of Dissenters. 
Vol. 2. p. 4:?6. 

t John Knox, the great Scottisli reformer, writing from Geneva where he 
lived for some years in tlie most intimate converse with Calvin, gives the 
following testimony : " I neither fear, nor am ashamed to say, here is the most 
perfect school of Christ that over was in the earth since the days of the 
apostles." — M'Cric's Life of Knox p. 141. 

X The following testimony on the happy moral effects of these doctrines ia 
Scotland, from the pen of tlie Rev. Dr. Chahneis, is wortliy of serious consid- 
eration. " How comes il that Scotland, which of all the countries in Europe, is 
the most signalised for the rigid Calvinism of her pulpits, should also be the 
most signalised by the moral glory that sits on the aspect of her general popu- 
lation.' How, in the name of mystery, should it happen that such a theology as 
ours, is conjoined with, perhaps, the yet most unvitiated peasantry among the 
nations of Christendom .' The allegation against our churches is, tiiat in the 
argumentation of our abstract and speculative controversies, the people are so- 
little schooled to the performance of good works. And how then is it that, in 
our courts of justice, when compared willi the calendars of our sister kingdom, 
there should be so vastly less to do with their evil works.' It is certainly a 
most important experience that in that countr}' where is the most Calvinism, 
there should be the least crime — that what may be called the most doctrinal 
nation of Europe should, at the same time, be the least depraved — and that the 
land wherein the people are most deeply imbued with the principles of sarva- 
tion by grace, should be the least distempered, cither by their week-day profli- 
gacies, or their Sabbath profanations." — Sermon at the opening of the Scotch 
National Church in London, May, 1827. 

4 



2& 

Jesus Christ, atonement, for sin by liis most precious 
blood, the absolute necessity of regeneration for all men 
wrought by the special agency of the Holy Ghost, and 
the eternity of future rewards and punishments : these 
with their kindred doctrines, coming from heaven, were 
in their souls, as they will be in all who cordially em- 
brace them, a wellspring of life, vital to their dearest 
hopes, and in support of which they were ready to lay 
down their lives. 

Justice to the memory of the dead, and likewise to 
the occasion on which we are assembled, demands of 
me at least a passing notice of the melancholy decline 
both in doctrinal views, and in practice, which has taken 
place in this land of the Pilgrims. For the first century 
the churches of New England maintained in a good de- 
gree their primitive character. Harvard College, under 
the presidency of such learned and godly men as Chaun- 
cey. Oaks, and Increase Mather, poured forth her pure 
streams, making glad the city of God. The Holy 
Spirit was then honored within her walls, and his heav- 
enly influences descended upon her sons, and they went 
forth " full of faith and of the Holy Ghost," and were 
bright and shining lights in our churches. This century 
had scarcely passed before some of the watchmen began 
to lose their spirituality, and to fall asleep upon their 
watchtowers. Church discipline was neglected. The 
standard of admission to the ordinances was lowered 
down to meet the feelings of the prayerless and the 
worldly ;* and that preaching which presses the con- 

* About tho close of this century the opinion gained ground among the 
churches, that the sacrament of the Lord's supper was a converting ordinance 
and consequently that evidence of regeneration was not necessary to constitute 
a right to its participation. 

The celebrated Dr. Owen very justly remarks, " The letting go this principle, 
that particular churches ought to consist of regenerate persons, brought in the 
great apostasy of the Christian church." 



27 

science, brings the sinner before the tril)unal of the lieart- 
searching God, and leads him in his anguisii to the blood 
of atonement, was exchanged for a moral essay, or a 
dry speculation. Loud and bitter were the lamentations 
over the violations of the Sabbath, and the neglect of 
family religion, uttered by the aged Simeons, and a few 
young Elijahs.* This incubus of a worldly spirit was 
somewhat broken about the middle of the last century 
by the holy zeal and truly apostolic labors of Edwards, 
the Tennants, and George Whitefield. These men, like 
Moses and Aaron, ran in between the living and the 
dead, and the plague of moral death was in part staid. 
The Holy Ghost descended, many ministers were con- 
verted,! the dormant graces of others quickened into 

* So alarming had tliis declension become in the days of Cotton Matlicr, as 
tolead him to give utterance to this rather remarkable prediction, ' that in forty 
years more, should this declension continue to make progress as it iiad done, 
convulsions would ensue, in which churches ivould he gathered out of churches.' 
Spirit of the Pilgrims. Vol. 2. p. 70. 

The following extract is from a sermon preached about 1740, by tlio Rev. Mr. 
Prince of the Old South Church, Boston. " Thus this wonderful work of the 
grace of God, begun in England, and brought over hither, was carried on while 
the greater part of the first generation lived, for about thirty years : and then 
the second generation rising up and growing thick upon the stage ; a little 
after IGGO, there began to appear a decay : and this increased to 1G70, wlien it 
grew very visible and threatening, and was generally complained of, and 
bewailed bitterly by the pious among tliem: and yet much more to ICSO, when 
but few of the first generation remained." — Prince's Christian History. Vol. 1. 
pp. 94, 95, 97, 98, ct passim. 

This mourning of Increase Mather and other eminent men over the growing 
degeneracy of their times, has been represented as the result of weakness, and 
illiberal views ; but surely a knowledge of our early history, united witli the 
benevolence of the Gospel, is sufficient to create in any bosom a sympathy 
with their loudest lamentations. And those who are disposed to make light of 
such pious grief would do well to remember our Saviour's admonition : " Blessed 
are they that weep now, for they shall be comforted ; but wo to them that 
laugh now, for they shall weep and lament." — See Ware's History of the Second 
Church in Boston. Disc. i. pp. 10, 11. 

t The following extracts of a letter from the Rev. Mr. Porter of Bridgewater, 
father of the present Dr. Porter, of Roxbury, presents but one instance out of 
many. " I shall always mention with respect and honor the name of Whitefield, 
whatever others may think or say of him, from the benefit one of the most 



28 

life, and many churches greatly refreshed. Not a few 
however had so far lost the spirit of the Puritans that 
they reproached and blasphemed.* These holy servants 
of God, ascended to their reward, and the work of de- 
terioration ^^•ent on. The small amount of ministerial 
labors, and the cold and pointless preaching of Armini- 
anisni, paralyzed the churches, and ])repared the way 
for a still farther progress in the downward road of error, 
until about twenty years since, some of tiie ministers 
were enabled to introduce and preach, though with great 
caution, first high Arianism, then Unitarianism down to 
its lowest grades.! 

unworthy of Christ's ministers hopes ho received by his holy and fervent min- 
istrations. Be sure I knew nothing rightly of my sin and danger, of my need of 
a Saviour, or of the way of salvation by liim ; neitlicr was I established in the 
doctrines of grace, (though a preacher, and one who endeavored to instruct 
others in the Vv'ay,) till I heard that man of God. And if the Lord had per- 
mitted me to have took the oversight of a flock, as I had a call to do, the blind 
would have led the blind, and so it is like we both would have fallen into the 
ditch. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within rne, bless his holy 
name, for what he did for me, through the instrumentality of that man." — 
Prince's Christian Histonj. Vol. 1. pp. 397, 398. 

* Such progress had the declension made at this time, about 1740, that the 
pious Whitefield, though he came in the very spirit of the Puritan fathers, was 
excluded from many pulpits ; and those of a similar devotedness and zeal, both 
ministers and laymen were in several instances persecuted, fined, and banished 
by the opposers of revivals and a faithful searching ministry. — See in the Spirit 
of the Pilgrims, ' Letters on the Introduction and Progress of Unitarianism in 
JVew England,' — a series of most valuable articles on this subject. 

f That Unitarianism gained its present footing in New England by conceal- 
ment, we have the testimony of some of its most respectable advocates. Said 
the Rev. Francis Parkman, in the year 1812, speaking of Dr. Freeman, " Tliough 
on other subjects he is as explicit and unreserved, as he is able and intelligent, 
I never heard him express a Unitarian sentiment ; and I believe he carefully 
avoids it in the pulpit, because it might unnecessarilj' disturb some of his 
hearers. There is now one more gentleman in Boston, who, with his intimate 
friends, may, perhaps, be considered a Unitarian ; but he maintains the same 
cautious reserve. Now, even admitting what I hardly think I have a right to 
do, that these three gentlemen are Unitarians, to what can all this prudent 
reserve be ascribed, but to their conviction that the preaching of Unitarian 
doctrines would be oifensive to their hearers, and injurious to their influence.'" 

This gentleman bears the same testimony relative to the concealment prac- 
tised by Dr. Kirkland, late president of Harvard College, and thinks that an 
honest avowal of his sentiments would have prevented his election. " Dr. K. 



29 

Tims liavc the most dan^jerous errors crept in, and 
wliile men slept, the enemy harh sowed tares over this 
goodly heritage of our fathers. O with what feelings 
would Cotton, Norton, Wilson, Daven[)ort, Charles 
Channcey, and others, revisit many of these churches, 
and hear from the puli)it that Saviour rol)l)ed of his di- 
vine glories, at whose feet tliey have for more than a 
century been casting their crowns with the profoundest 
reverence ! That blood of atonement set at naught, 
which is in heaven the inspiration of their loftiest songs! 
Those revivals of religion, which bring men from darkness 
to light, which comforted and enraptured their hearts 
amidst their holy toils, now the butt of the profane, 
and the sneer of those who are their successors in the 
awful work of watching for souls !* 

That New England on the whole is still, in her moral 
and religious institutions, without a compeer on the face 
of the globe, we would this day acknowledge with de- 
vout gratitude. The lax principles which have been 
introduced are limited in their extent, and their evil 
results but partially developed even where they do exist. 
Their dubious avowal, and the cautionary measures 
which precede their announcement, show that their 
abettors are conscious of the frown of a pious ancestry. 

was formerly one of the ministers of Boston, and wliatevcr his particular 
friends may think of his opinions, lie never preached these sentiments. Nay, 
I may venture to say, that had Dr. Kirkland been an ackuowhdgrd defender 
of Uiiitarianism, he would not have been elected to that office." — Spirit of the 
Pilgrims. 1829. No. 4. 

Says the Rev. Dr. Freeman, " I am acquainted with a number of ministers, 
particularly in the southern part of this state, who avow and publicly preach 
this [Unitarian] sentiment. There are others more cautious, who content them- 
selves with leading their hearers, by a course of rational, but prudent sermons, 
gradually and insensibly to embrace it." — Brief Hist, of Unitarianism. p. 22. 

* See, for example, a sneering, blasphemous publication, entitled " Letters of 
an English Traveller, on Revivals of Religion ;" written, as it is said, by a 
Unitarian clergyman of Massachusetts, and trumpeted in all the Unitarian 
periodicals of the day, with unminglcd applause, over the very graves of the 
Pilgrims. 



30 

They are indeed the principles of moral and religious 
death, but there is an entailment of pious habits which 
is not to be annihilated in a moment. A fine physical 
constitution is not usually to be broken down at once. 
The eye may beam with intelligence, the countenance 
glow with health, and the muscle act with vigor, for a 
little space, after the rest, the industry, and the health- 
ful diet which have formed this noble system have been 
neglected. The causes of death are at work ; and un- 
less seasonably arrested, the fatal result is as certain as 
the laws of the universe. 

But to what shall we attribute this melancholy de- 
cline ? The causes, in my view, are chiefly two. The 
influx of irreligious persons from abroad, and the preva- 
lence of a worldly self-confident spirit, fostered by great 
temporal prosperity, especially the latter.* The church 
of God withstands fire and sword better than prosperity. 
After the trials of the wilderness, the generation that 
entered the land of Canaan were a remarkably holy 
generation ; they served God all the days of Joshua, and 
the elders w^ho outlived him ; but at the close of the 
second generation, the spirit of worldliness and self-con- 
fidence, fostered by prosperity, prevailed over the spirit 
of godliness. Under David the worship of God was 
more regularly established, the people were better in- 

* Other causes without doubt have contributed to this apostasy. At the first 
court of election in Mass. held 1631, it was ordered that none but church mem- 
bers should enjoy the freedom of the body politic. The law was repealed in 
1662. — Holmes' American Jlnnals. This law had a direct tendency to lower 
down the standard of church membership. And the half-way covenant, as its 
legitimate offspring, was introduced in the year 1657. In the year 1700, Mr. 
Stoddard of Northampton published his views of the Lord's supper as being a 
converting ordinance, and advocated the right of unregenerated men to its 
participation. The revolutionary war had doubtless a disastrous influence on 
our moral and religious character; and the extensive circulation, about the 
same period, of deistical publications, served to shake the confidence of many 
in revelation. — See Letters on the Introduction and Progress of Unitarianism, 
in New ^England. Spirit of the Pilgrims. 



31 

structcd ill the law, and a f^cnernl revival of religion pre- 
vailed over the nation : this continued for some jears 
into the splendid reign of Solomon, when the ancient 
Zion arose to her highest pinnacle of glory. Soon, how- 
ever, this prosperity drew into action that evil heart of 
unbelief, which departs from the living Cod. And when 
idolatry, the easily besetting error of that day, was intro- 
duced by Jeroboam, it was found that more than half 
the nation, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, were prepared to fall in with it. 

So in respect to the influence of prosperity on 
the Christian church : after she had spread her arms 
over the wliole Roman empire, and basked for years 
under the bountiful favors of the great Constantino, it 
was discovered that her vitals were diseased, that she 
had at best but the form of godliness while the power 
had forsaken her, and that she needed only an Arius to 
throw his system of errors into a plausible form, to en- 
list half her strength in robbing the Son and the Holy 
Ghost of all their divine honors. 

The churches planted by our fathers during the first 
century flourished with little molestation. The whole 
land was theirs, and they had not much to fear from the 
thunders of the Vatican, or the court of Hi^h Commis- 
sion. Their alliance with the civil authority was too 
close. A feeling of security induced the sentinels at 
the door of the church, and at the door of the ministry 
to sleep. The unconverted minister was flattered by his 
worldly hearer, and in return smoothed the sermon to the 
hearer's taste. From how many of the churches'of the 
Pilgrims is the glory departed. Ichabod is inscribed 
upon their walls. No breath of heaven blows. They 
are like the mountains of Gilboa on which no dews de- 
scend. There may be peace, but it is the peace of the 



32 

grave. " O that my head were waters, and mine eyes 
a fountahi of tears !" Sons of the Pilgrims, look at these 
beacons, as they rise around you, and beware of forsak- 
ing the God of your fathers. Their graves are before 
you. This occasion rolls back the light of their doc- 
trines, and the light of their example. " It is reported 
of the Scythians," says Cotton Mather, " that in battles, 
when they came to stand upon the G:raves of their 
dead fathers, they would there stand immoveable till 
they died on the spot : and, thought I, why may not 
such a method now engage the children of the Pilgrims, 
to stand fast in their faith, and their order, and in the 
power of godliness ? I will show them the graves of 
their dead fathers ; and if any of them do retreat unto 
the errors of another Gospel, they shall undergo the 
irresistible rebukes of their progenitors, here brought 
from the dead for their admonition." 

I rejoice that while standing on this consecrated 
ground, and on an occasion crowded with the most in- 
teresting associations, I can cast my eye on more ani- 
mating visions. This rebuke has been already felt. 
These desolations shall come to a perpetual end. The 
spirit of the Pilgrims is reviving. This land has been 
consecrated by their prayers and sacrifices : it was given 
them by a covenant keeping God. The conflict may be 
severe, it may be long ; but our fathers' God is with us, 
and the victory is certain.* The voice of past genera- 

* Unitarianism has spread its withering influence over nearly one hundred 
churches planted by our Puritan ancestors. In most of these places, however, 
God has preserved a few names who have kept the faith, and suffered no man 
to take their crown. These, in the true spirit of their Pilgrim fathers, are fast 
coming out, and forming new churches, and taking a firm and noble stand for 
the honor of their divine Loid and t!ie doctrines of his cross. Amidst a tem- 
pest of reproach and persecution, sustained by the promise and command of 
their fathers' God, these little bands are rapidly multiplying ; and, wherever 
organized, the truth proves victorious, and they proceed from strength to 
strength. 



33 

tions inspires us with invincible fortitude, and the des- 
tiny of unborn millions, with which we are entrusted, 
utters its thrilling ap|)eal to every sympathy of our 
bosoms, and every energy of our hands. 

Taking a view from this eminence of the character 
and achievements of the Pilgrims, my mind is forcibly 
impressed with the reflection — it is the hii;h preroi2,ative 
of God to bring good out of evil. The persecutions 
and oppressive measures pursued in the reigns of Mary, 
and Elizabeth, James, and the Charles's, drove the 
pious Puritans from their native country, and planted 
the colony of New England with a choice vine. God 
prepared a race of men by a series of most remarkable, 
and, apparently, most adverse providences ; schooling 
them for near two centuries with the severest affliction : 
and when they were ripe for his great purpose, and he 
could no longer, consistently with his perfections, pre- 
serve and nurture them amidst the corruptions of the 
old world, he drove them out in a mysterious way, and 
planted them on these shorc^s, where the exalted princi- 
ples which he had formed in their bosoms might expand 
and operate without restraint, and be transmitted down 
to future generations. This was the chosen spot of all 
the earth. Had they been planted on the Hudson, as 
was their plan, they would have been cut off by the 
hostile Indians. Had they gone to the south, the pow- 
erful inducement to hold slaves might have withered 
that lofty spirit of Christian enterprise, and shaken some 
of those principles which have produced the mightiest 
results ; and Canada was foreclosed against them by 
the French Catholics. This was the appointed theatre 

The primitive Christians withdrew themselves from the Jewipli church, 
and were orreatly blessed of God. St. Hilary, Bishop of Poictiers, in the 
fourth century, exliorted the Orthodox to withdraw from Arius. ' Be not 
deceived by a foolish lore of walls,' he says, ' nor stj-icc any more on sitch 
frivolous considerations fur the name of peace.' — Claude's Defence Reform. 
Vol. 2. pp. 5—7. 

5 



34 

for the developement of a character, which had so far 
outstripped the age that it must "dwell alone." And 
while a flood of corruption returned upon the church in 
the mother country, under Charles II, and the iron hand 
of oppression paralyzed all her spiritual energies, this 
band ot extraordinary men were here, under the special 
care of Zion's King, breathing the exhilarating atmos- 
phere of civil and religious freedom, rising and spreading 
with a majesty never before witnessed ; and throwing 
back a light upon Europe, which electrified the friends 
of religion and of man, showed the enslaved their 
rights, and made the thrones of tvranny tremble. From 
this combination of character arose a Brainerd, an Ed- 
wards, and a D wight, applying a mighty arm to the 
movements of the church here and in England, towards 
the day of millennial glory. 

Whence go that company of youthful adventurers, 
whom I see with the Bible in their hand, and their eye 
lifted to heaven, doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and 
raising the torch of the Gospel on the benighted shores 
of Hindoostan ; and others bending their way around 
Cape Horn, and planting the standard of the cross on 
the islands of the Pacific, whilst thousands of the poor 
natives cast away their idols and exclaim, " The Lord 
he is God ; the Lord he is God !" And still others 
leaving all the endearments of home that they may 
gather the wandering tribes of the west into the Re- 
deemer's fold? Whence proceed the men, who are 
making the dark forests of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and 
Missouri, to bloom like Eden ? Who are the enter- 
prising merchants, the teachers of youth, the lights of 
the churches, over the whole west and south ? Are 
they not the descendants of the Pilgrims ? Here God 
was pleased to gather all the rays of human perfection 
from the old world, and to condense them into one great 



35 

and intense light, which we believe, notwithstanding 
some occasional obscurities, shall shine brighter and 
brighter, till it shall ilhiminate and rejoice the world. 
Sacred, awful spot ! Thoughts full of majesty come 
hurrying dow n from the past, and visions of unspeakable 
glory rise on the future. God of tiie Pilgrims ! here 
thou uncoverest the glory of thy purposes, and I seem 
to hear the mandate, "Take the shoes from off thy feet, 
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." 

Never did children assemble to pay a tribute to the 
venerated dead, under such a weight of obligation, as 
that ^\ hich this moment presses upon us. Never did 
sublimer associations gather around a mere human event. 
We here offer not the gratitude of New England, but 
the gratitude of the icorld. 

Parents, look at the example of the Pilgrims, and 
consider what a tide of blessings you may send down 
to unborn generations. Statesmen, fix your admiring 
gaze on the Pilgrims of New England, and learn to form 
a nation, whose glory shall be its holiness, whose de- 
fence the mighty God as a wall of fire round about it. 
Their efficiency was in the Almighty Spirit — they walk- 
ed with God. Never was there a colony planted with 
so much prayer, and never was there a colony estab- 
lished whose results were so glorious. 

Fellow immortals, how rapidly pass away the succes-* 
sive generations of men ! 

" Where are our fathers ? — Whither gone 

The mighty men of old I 
The patriarchs, prophets, princes, kings, 

In sacred books enroU'd .■' — 
Gone to the resting place of man, 

His long, his sileni home ; 
Where ages past have gone before, 

Where future ages come !" 

The portals of eternity are opening before us. Those 
waves on which our fathers' bark rode, still lash the 
shore. The little island on which they kept their first 



36 

Sabbath, 208 years ago yesterday,* still stands as a 
modest remembrancer of our fathers' piety. These two 
hills, which they ascended, and with trembling hearts 
descried far away in the dark forest the Indian fires, 
maintain their place and form ; and between them, that 
brook of pure water, beside which they walked, in holy 
musing on the designs of Providence in relation to them 
and their offspring, still winds its way into the ocean. 
But our fathers, where are they ? — Brewster, Carver, 
Winslow, Bradford, Alden, — gone into eternity, and six 
generations of their posterity have followed them. The 
green turf beneath our feet covers all that was mortal 
of them ; but their purified, exalted souls, are striking 
their golden harps on Mount Zion above. Enrapturing 
to the heart of a Jew was the anticipation of joining 
his ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Sons of 
New England, would you join that glorified band of 
your Pilgrim fathers? Would you meet them in peace 
on that day when all human institutions shall be dis- 
solved, and the earth itself consumed ? — Serve their 
God, adore their Saviour, fly to thai cross, which they 
found as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 
O, would you send onward to unborn generations a tide 
of the richest blessings, such as you can look down 
upon with satisfaction from the mansions of the redeem- 
ed after centuries have rolled away, — bind their holy 
principles to your hearts, and maintain the institutions 
established by their prayers and sacrifices, institutions 
recommended by an experiment of unparalleled success, 
and stamped with the seal of heaven's approbation, with 
your latest breath. 

* A small Island in Plymouth harbor, called Clark's Island, seen from the 
shore, on which an exploring party of eighteen in their boat landed on Satur- 
day evening, supposing it to be the main land. Here they rested on the holy 
Sabbath, devoting the day to the worship of God, and on Monday morning 
came on shore at Plymouth. This discourse was delivered on Monday, the 
same day of ihe week, as well as of the month, on which our fathers landed 
on the Plymouth rock. 



